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Australian Community Media

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Australian Community Media
FormerlyRural Press
IndustryMedia
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Area served
Regional Australia
ProductsRegional newspapers
Websites
Owner
Websiteacm.media

Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, The Examiner, The Border Mail, The Courier and the Illawarra Mercury along with more than one hundred community-based websites across Australia and numerous agricultural publications including The Land and Queensland Country Life.

The entity was formerly owned by Fairfax Media prior to its merger with Nine Entertainment in 2018. In April 2019, Nine sold the business to former chief executive of real estate platform Domain Antony Catalano and billionaire Alex Waislitz.

In May 2024, one of the lawyers employed by ACM became associated with a plagiarism scandal involving the use of AI.[1] It was discovered that articles from other publications had been rewritten, but not attributed to the original journalists.

History

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ACM's origins can be traced back to The Land, founded in Sydney in 1911. In subsequent decades, The Land acquired various other community newspapers. In September 1970, John Fairfax acquired a 25% shareholding.[2] In 1981, the company was renamed Rural Press.[citation needed] In 1985, John Fairfax increased its shareholding from 25% to 45%.[3] In March 1989, Rural Press was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with Fairfax Holdings having a 51% shareholding.[4]

By the mid-2000s, Rural Press owned approximately 170 newspaper and magazine titles, the Canberra Times being the most prominent. These were predominantly in rural Australia, though it also owned a number of agricultural publications in the United States and New Zealand. It also owned radio stations in regional Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, a range of Australian classified advertising websites, and Australian commercial printing plants.[5][6]

On 6 December 2006, it was announced that Rural Press and John Fairfax would merge to form a new company estimated in value at $12 billion.[7][failed verification] Under the deal, the family company of Rural Press chairman John B. Fairfax (who did not have an interest in the company bearing his family's name) took a 13.5 per cent stake in the merged entity. This was just short of a controlling interest, but gave Fairfax a potential blocking stake if Publishing & Broadcasting Limited, News Corporation, the Seven Network or a private equity raider embarked on a hostile takeover, as had been widely anticipated following the Federal Parliament's passage of new media laws on October 18, 2006.[8]

The merger with Fairfax was completed on 8 May 2007.[9] Papers from Rural Press were published under the Fairfax Regional Media brand, which later became Australian Community Media. Fairfax Media merged with Nine Entertainment in December 2018 and Nine sold ACM to Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz in April 2019.[10][11][12] ACM closed the Blayney Chronicle and Oberon Review in August 2024[13] and then a month later announced plans to shutter another eight papers. The company blamed the closures on Meta Platforms not renewing its $200m three-year deal with local newspaper publishers.[14]

Newspapers

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Regional Daily

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New South Wales

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Other

Non-daily

New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

ACT and Southern Inland NSW
Illawarra and South East NSW
New England
Newcastle and Hunter region
Central Coast NSW
  • Central Coast Community News (Gosford)
North Coast NSW
South West NSW
Sydney Suburban
Western NSW

Queensland and Northern Territory

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

ACM is represented in Victoria by "The Mighty V" and the Victorian Country Press Association (VCPA)

Western Australia

Agricultural

Rural Weeklies

Specialty Publications

  • Alfa Lotfeeding
  • Australian Cotton & Grains Outlook
  • Good Fruit & Vegetables
  • Horse Deals
  • The Australian Dairy Farmer

Specialty brands

Targeted brands

  • The Senior
  • Focus
  • Rural Bookshop
  • The Content Studio
  • Chi Squared Research

Rural newspaper inserted publications

  • Country Leader
  • Hunter Valley and North Coast Town & Country
  • North West Magazine
  • The Rural
  • The Border News
  • Town and Country Magazine
  • Western Magazine
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References

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  1. ^ Fell, Julian (13 May 2024). "We asked this Australian lawyer if he was behind a 'parasitic' content farm. Hours later it was all taken down". ABC News. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Fairfax takes up new issue". The Canberra Times. 17 September 1970. p. 34.
  3. ^ "Fairfax lifting stake in Rural Press". The Canberra Times. 23 May 1985. p. 27.
  4. ^ "Rural Press Ltd on stock exchange". Nota. 1 April 1989. p. 17.
  5. ^ "Rural Press stable extended". The Canberra Times. 7 September 1993. p. 11.
  6. ^ "Radio growth for Rural Press". The Canberra Times. 12 July 1994. p. 17.
  7. ^ Knight, Elizabeth (7 December 2006). "Stakes raised in media's cold war". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  8. ^ Long, Stephen (6 December 2006). "Fairfax, Rural press announce plan for merger". PM. Radio National. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Rural Press, Fairfax officially merged". The Age. 9 May 2007.
  10. ^ "Nine sells Fairfax community newspapers to Antony Catalano". ABC News (Australia). 30 April 2019.
  11. ^ Kelly, Vivienne (30 April 2019). "Antony Catalano buys Nine's regional newspapers". Mumbrella.
  12. ^ Simmons, David (9 July 2019). "Thorney takes a slice of Catalano's Australian Community Media". Business News Australia.[permanent dead link‍]
  13. ^ "Stop press for Blayney Chronicle". Blayney Chronicle. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  14. ^ Robinson, Wayne (13 September 2024). "ACM TO FOLD 8 MORE NEWSPAPERS". Print21. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
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